New Technology High School: Blog Portfolio

Want students to expand their knowledge by participating in an online community?

Blogs serve as a way to connect students with experts in the field, who offer advice, encouragement, and even internships and jobs. It is time for educators to harness the power that blogs can provide to amplify engagement with real world professionals and communities.

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HundrED 2018

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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED 2018

Updated September 2017

Web presence

2015

Established

1

Countries

All students

Target group

About the innovation

What is New Technology High School: Blog Portfolio?

No matter the job, chances are that employers will use the internet to find out more information about an applicant. Therefore, a digital presence is arguably the most vital element to students as they look for jobs. Students need to start thinking and strategizing about their audience and ultimately learn how to use different social media platforms to convey who they are. Furthermore, with many of today's jobs involving some sort of digital skills, educators need to provide students with the terminology and skills they will need to thrive.

New Tech High wanted to transform e-portfolio work as they recognized that traditional methods of uploading work online did not create an authentic audience. As a result, educators decided to work in collaboration with their students to redesign the program. The result was a blogging and e-portfolio hybrid. Three main components to the program were formed:

1. Document your process

2. Teach others what you know

3. Connect with the outside world and network

By moving beyond the boundaries of the classroom, students interact with online communities and make real-world connections that can lead to internships and employment. Students use social media to interact with experts and build a digital presence through blogging. Students add to their blogs using writing prompts provided by teachers anywhere from 2 to 15 times a month.

Students have the ability to promote their content via social media, or if they wish to minimize their digital footprint, they learn how to safely set their privacy settings. This provides an opportunity for everyone to become involved in the project.

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

Innovativeness

Students become more astute at using their digital presence to get jobs, showcase work, and become experts in an area of passion, than a lot of adults out in the world today.

Impact

Students become workforce-ready as they see an increase in self-esteem, creativeness, passion, and much more. At New Tech High, nearly every student at the school was engaged and excited to share their portfolios with teachers and family. The staff were impressed with the thoughtfulness, professionalism, and genuine excitement of the students.

Scalability

Over 400 students in New Tech High use Blog on a regular basis; some of their Blogs reach over 300 views. This simple technique can be used in any classroom.

Media

Final Innovative Learning Presentation

Implementation steps

Select a structure

Each school has different needs to structure the program differently to fit its needs.

Consider the needs of the individual school and explore the available platforms that can do what the staff and students need. Every school is different and needs to decide what platforms should be used, level of skill needed for instruction, how much freedom students should have to express themselves on blogs verses a consistant order within the class, and how easy it will be for outside organizations to find students' work.

Design portfolios with a Committee of Stakeholders

Create a Committee of Stakeholders consisting of teachers, students, and outside professionals to consider portfolios.

Committees can include teachers, students, and also outside professionals among others. Stanford University'sDesign Thinking Protocol is a good tool to help set up a portfolio, wherein the committee seeks input from stakeholders, propose and design proposals, then solicit feedback from stakeholders and reiterate. It is vital to collect thoughts from teachers, students, and professionals to make sure that portfolios are both manageable and professionally useful. It is essential that student voices play a central role as they will become more engaged if the process is owned by them and their peers.

Create Resources

Resources for teachers and students is essential to building a portfolio.

Create a toolkit for new student bloggers as well as teachers. Create a single location where students can access portfolio resources including. Recources include how-to videos and documents, information on thoughtful reflection, writing with an audience in mind while sounding professional, and how to best utilize social media. Using resources made by students for their peers as well as by teachers is encouraging.

Roll out to the school

Utilize committee members to premier the program to the school.

When it is time to premier the portfolio process to students, utilize committee members as trainers. It is recommended that all students learn to use their portfolios at the same time so that they can support one another during the process. Periodically revisit portfolios with students to assess, suupport, and showcase the work.

Plan for Showcasing

Celebrate the success of students' portfolios.

Make time at the end of the school year for all students to showcase their portfolios. Each grade level should showcase to different at-level audiences, such as teachers, parents, community members, and local employers. Showcases are a celebration where students honor their growth as well as that of their peers.